Mining Technology

Daily Newsletter

07 December 2023

Daily Newsletter

Critical Mineral secures new exploration permits in Morocco

Of the four new permits, three comprise the Meseta project in the country, prospective for copper.

Critical Mineral Resources (CMR), a UK-based mining company, has obtained four new exploration permits in Morocco’s Rabat and Beni-Mellal regions, spanning around 80km².

Of the four new permits, three pertain to the Meseta project, which mainly has copper potential.

These permits follow the grant for the Ighrem project, prospective for copper, oligiste iron ore and manganese, in September and the company acquiring an 80% stake in Atlantic Research Minerals in June.

The Meseta project is located in the northern part of the country, 80km from Rabat. It consists of exploration permits in a region, with mineralisation pertaining to copper, tungsten, tin, lead and zinc.

The main permit of the project is located on the same structural trend as the Rhouirat N'Has tungsten-copper project managed by Morocco's state natural resources developer ONHYM and Aterian's Zaer project.

Furthermore, the company stated that the main permit has recently showed evidence of historical mining at several locations.

CMR CEO Charlie Long said: “We are delighted to add the Meseta project to our portfolio of exploration permits. It fits CMR's stated strategy of targeting Moroccan assets with the potential to produce clean energy commodities.

“While we continue to develop our opportunities for cash generation from earn-in with near-term production assets such as Anzar, Meseta is an important addition to our incubator portfolio of licences.

“Early indications give us confidence it has copper development potential. We are pleased to provide our investors with additional exposure to copper projects and the significant value we believe they and copper hold for the long term.”

The company is focused on developing commodity projects in the country, which have the potential to support the switch to clean energy.

As part of this focus, it is also assessing advances in battery chemistries and broader electrification technologies.

In October 2023, the company, through its subsidiary Atlantic Research Minerals, reached a heads of terms agreement with S.A Strategy SARL to earn-in to the Zagora cobalt project in Morocco.

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